1.
F: So, today we are November 12th and you will complete your series of the history of Zaire. It is now the third chapter.
T: Another chapter.
F: And we stopped...
T: ...yes...
F: ... the other day with number sixty two1, the Katangese women.
T: The Katangese women.
F: Mm-hmm.

2.
T: Yes, at the time of the Katangese women [rummages, picks up Painting 64: The Kasavubu-Lumumba Conflict] Lumumba was prime minister in Kinshasa.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Alright. They had Kasavubu as president. Because he was president there was conflict among the leaders. That's how it is with the leaders, and they have their secrets that we cannot know. I think it was in what is now called the May 20th Stadium, it used to be Baudouin I Stadium. Lumumba and Kasavubu went there and Kasavubu had the intention to speak before the people.2 Alright. In this gathering Kasavabu showed his resentment against Lumumba before the people. He said [rummages] that, from this day on, Lumumba is no longer Prime Minister. After he had said that Lumumba is no longer Prime Minister, Lumumba left the Stadium in anger and went on the radio. He, too, said what he had to say. I think, if you follow Radio Kinshasa, every June 30th Lumumba's speech re-broadcast: That Kasavubu is a straw man. Whatever went wrong between them, he himself spoke out. Alright. I think it was immediately afterward that an order for his arrest was issued.

3.
Lumumba, who was at home at the time, left the same day and fled in a black Peugeot 403 [Painting 65: Lumumba Is Arrested at Lodja].3 He fled from Kinshasa to the Kasai, to Lodja. And he was locked up on that day, they arrested him. After his arrestation -- [by the way] when they arrested him he had his child with him -- so, he was arrested together with his child and I think there were others involved. I know there was Nendaka, Nendaka Victor, that was his former name. And there were other persons who tied him up and brought him back to Kinshasa.

4.
In Kinshasa, this is now another painting on which you see [reading from Painting 66: Lumumba is Brought before the People] "Lumumba before the people in Baudouin I Stadium at Léopoldville." There was a huge crowd and what happened there -- those are things that regard the big shots, as I explained to you. [But] if it is history I shall be able to pursue it for the sake of history.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: At any rate, they displayed him in front of all the people and said: "This is a bad man, we are going to lock him up and send him to Bulambemba. Bulambemba, I think you know, is a prison in the Zaire [river]. The water flows by and the prison is in the middle.
F: I see.

5.
T: Yes. After they had said they were going to send him there, they made him get on an airplane. By chance, the plane could not follow the route to Bulambemba or Kisangani were they could have locked him up. Rather it took the route to Katanga. On arriving in Katanga he was beaten right there, they beat him, tied him with a rope and made him suffer. That is how he arrived in Shaba. This is the painting [called] Africa's Calvary [Paiting 67: African Calvary].
F: Mm-hmm.
T: As I am an artist, I call this painting, eh, I call it by a name, picture -- ah, what was it again? -- something like historical picture. I forgot the name, you'll excuse me.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: At any rate, they tied him up with a rope and brought him to Lubumbashi, to Luano [airport]. It was at Luano. As you can see, it was a Sabena plane that brought him. They made him step down and the Katanga Gendarmes kept him prisoner and escorted him off, slowly. [You can see for yourself] when you get close to the very house, as I did. I have been to this house.
F: But, I thought we had another painting where Lumumba is standing near that house [searching for picture].
T: Alright. Excuse me, that picture is about a pronouncement of the Leader who said: "From this day on Lumumba is a national hero."
F: Ah, well, it is still to come.
T: It will come in its place [where it illustrates] what [Mobutu] said.4

6.
Alright. So tied him up with a rope, [as shown] in the picture "Africa's Calvary," and went with him to this house which is near Luano [airport]. That house belonged to a Belgian settler who had by then sold it to the government of Katanga. Alright. That is where they went with him and what happened there -- let's just say it is something that regards the big shots. At any rate, he was brutally beaten and he was not alone. Two persons were with him, their names were Mpolo and Okito.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Alright. So they beat him up and we heard that they killed him. Lumumba, together with Mpolo and Okito [Painting 68: Deaths of Lumumba, Mpolo, and Okito]. However, even though they say that they killed him, there is not a single person who knows for certain that Lumumba died, that he really died. Even now this a matter of dispute among the people.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Some said he died, others that they hid him -- we just don't know.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: We don't know. There is not a single person who spoke the truth. But the truth is, he died. That is what the picture shows to you [reading from painting]: "On January 17, 1961, Bob Denard killed Lumumba, Mpolo, and Okito."
F: Okito, mm-hmm.
T: About Bob Denard -- beyond this picture, I could explain [more], because I read a book by a French author. Alright, this French author followed the life of Lumumba and the way Lumumba died. He said, for instance, that they went with him to that house there, [and he told] how they beat him at the house, and there was a white lady present. She was of the Red Cross. But I forgot [her name], although at the time I was a member of the Red Cross, and she was our president.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: In Likasi. I knew this lady well. So they said, that she also was there when they killed Lumumba. Actually, this was a newspaper report that came out when I was in Kambove.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: I read that newspaper [looks for something: aside:] Yes. I read that newspaper. That paper appeared in sixty-five, sixty-five or sixty-six. It was the Essor du Katanga. It said that Lumumba, or rather that Tshombe and Munongo killed Lumumba.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Alright. They killed him on the road; Bob Denard stabbed him with a blade that was something like nine millimeters [wide], that's how he killed him. I heard about that, I read about it [in] a newspaper.
F: Blade?5
T: A blade, that is to say, like a knife, right? Something sharp. So he died, but we don't know the place where his body lies. There are suspicions. Some say that they threw it into sulfuric acid, or what do you call it?
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Yes, if you put a human body or whatever in it, this acid leaves only a liquid and some solid residue, and that's it. That is what some people said. In fact, you see that I painted three crosses there. I am saying that Lumumba -- I, [speaking] for myself, the artist Tshibumba -- in my view, Lumumba was like the Lord Jesus of Zaire.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Yes. Alright. Above I painted six stars, because he died for unity. And I think that you see the blood that is flowing, that is to say, it spreads and writes there on the ground: Unity. What it means is he died for the unity of Zaire. He did not want people to separate. What he wanted was that people should stay together6, an idea also held by the leader today.
F: Mm-hmm. I think we are at the end of this tape. I can change it and we'll go with ...?... You got to the end [of the story]
T: Of the death.
F: Of the death of Lumumba. Mm-hmm.

7.
T: The fact is,7 following Lumumba's death -- on the painting we said [reading again from painting] "On January 17, 1961, Bob Denard killed Lumumba, Mpolo, and Okito" -- following Lumumba's death there was a time of much fighting in Zaire, as we can see here in Katanga [Painting 69: The Deaths of the Innocent Children]. In Kinshasa, after Lumumba had died he was replaced by Cyril Adoula --no, he was replaced by Joseph Ileo. So Joseph Ileo replaced him -- that is also a picture I could bring you -- anyway, he was replaced and I think there was war in Shaba. A ferocious, senseless war was fought. Then Joseph Ileo was removed and Cyril Adoula put in [his] place.
F: Mm-hmm. [Rummaging]
T: No, sorry, this I'm just telling.8
F: ...?...
T: After Cyril Adoula, the war continued even more ferociously. By the time Cyril Adoula [was in power] the UN had arrived. You have a picture inscribed as "Appeal to the UN." The UN was already in the Congo. Alright. So the UN first went to war with Katanga. That was [reading from painting] "The Katangese Secession. The Death of the Innocent [Children]." This is what "The Death of the Innocent Children" means: When this war was fought, mothers began to leave Kenya township -- now it is called "Zone [Kenya]" -- and they got to the Lubumbashi, the river Lubumbashi. Here at the Lubumbashi they began to throw their children [into the river]. What happened was that if a woman found that her child was getting to heavy and kept whining she told herself: "It is going to give me away." So she just took it and threw it into the water there. What you see [on the picture] is how those children died and I inscribed it "Death of the Innocent Children." Because they did not know what all this was about, they just died.

8.
At that time there were many ethnic organizations in North Katanga, among the one called Balubakat. They did not get along with the government of Katanga, they were absolutely opposed to it. I think they were the ones who at the time raised the flag with the six stars in Likasi [Painting 70: Katanga Soldiers Shooting People in Jadotville]. They said: "We only follow Lumumba's line. He may be dead, we support his line." On that day the Katanga Gendarmes and the Katanga Police went out to kill many, many people. There happened to be Miketo Pierre who was a police inspector in Likasi, and he was also involved. He directed the policemen and the gendarmes in that massacre.

9.
Alright. The war just went on and on. In the second [part of the] war, Katanga came up with something that was amazing. This thing was built in the Comekat factory at Likasi, actually in the [ore] crushing shop. They built a big iron [vehicle] [Painting 71: The Monster of the Secession]. Inside [the armor] they put sand, and then iron on both sides. So they put sand in there and enclosed it in iron. You could shoot a bullet at it, or whatever, it could not penetrate. This iron vehicle they called "Mammoth." A mammoth is an elephant from way back in prehistorical times. Alright. It began to move and as it moved around, attempts were made to destroy it, but they did not succeed. Even a fighter plane dropped a bomb on it to destroy it, the thing just kept moving around. I think you see there, in front of it, I put a UN soldier who is down on one knee. That UN soldier, I believe, was the one who saved the entire UN contingent. He aimed his gun inside that iron vehicle, through a hole, and a bullet entered and exploded. All those who were inside died on the spot.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: After that, I think, Katanga could go on no longer. There had been a lot of fighting, but then the war came to an end. That was the first war, sorry, the second war.

10.
Alright. At that time [pulls out Painting 72: The Massacre of the Luba at Kipushi] Munongo was Minister of the Interior, Tshombe President of Katanga. Something happened in Kipushi that is a story but it should be counted as what we call history. Among others, there were people from Kasai living at Kipushi. Those are the Luba-Kasai, as they were calles. Alright, it happened one day, I believe it was in the afternoon, there was a quarrel between a woman and a man, wife and husband. They quarreled at entrance to the market. That fight developed into a brawl, and it was said that the Kasaians went on a rampage. They followed them all over Kipushi and lots of people, many, many were killed.
F: Mm, mm.
T: Ah, many, many. This massacre was something, I think, I cannot explain. Let's just say it was a slaughter of people. So I put it into the History, because it was an important event. Just for the sake of killing, they killed even small children, even helpless babies. And then Munongo arrived there and called the people together at the territorial administration building of Kipushi. Many people went there and became victims of a massacre.

11.
Alright, because many events of this sort happened this got to the attention of the UN. At that time, the Secretary General was Dag -- I don't really know [how to pronounce] his name, it was something like Amarzhold, or Amarshol. Alright. He took off for Shaba to try to negotiate some kind of truce. Let's just say that this was another affair involving the leaders. We know that it is historical. He really took off and arrived in an airplane. That plane followed a route over Zambian territory, at Ndola. He, too, died at that time [Painting 73: The Death of Dag Hammarskjöld]. What you see there are the firemen who tried to put out the fire9 in the plane and rescue the bodies, all of them had died.

12.
Alright. Now to another chapter from that time when the Shaba, or rather Katanga war was still going on and on. This is about Jason Sendwe. He was the leader of Balubakat, that was his political party. I think he also was caught and killed. They just killed him. After that came the death of Chief Kabongo.10
Alright. They killed [Sendwe] and cut off his head. Then Sendwe was buried [Painting 74: Jason Sendwe's Tomb]. I think, at one time, if we follow history, Mobutu visited his grave and honored him with some sort of posthumous medal.

13.
Alright. At that time the war just went on and on [looks for next painting]:
F: Yes.
T: The war continued. Alright. I think that they got to the last battle and took Shaba. The Shaba affair was finished. [airplane noise from outside, gives sign stop the narrative]
F: Because of the plane, it makes all that noise.
T: Oh lala lala.
F: ...?...
T: Mm-hmm. Press [the stop button], stop it or else you ...?...
F: No.
T: Mm-hmm.
F: Let's go on.
T: Ah. alright. Shall we go on?
F: [Far from microphone] Wait, I'll take a look [steps outside to look, returns]. Yes, it's going away now.
T: Is it?
F: [Noise of door slamming] We got to the death of, what was it again?
T: We had gotten to the [painting of the] smoke stack of the Gécamines, or rather Union Minière [Painting 75: Planes Attacking the Lubumbashi Smelter].

14.
Alright. I think, they fought [another] war and took Katanga. The Katanga affair was over, finished. Alright. But since we said that this was about the events that took place in Katanga is this not telling history twice?11 Because my story is set in the Kasai as well as in Katanga.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: In the Kasai, too, things were happening. What went on there was this: At that time -- you have one picture where you see that the Lulua and the Luba where fighting each other -- when the fighting was over the Luba were chased away to their home country. "Go home," they were told. They left Kananga, which was then called Luluabourg, and went home to Bakwanga. Alright. They arrived in Bakwanga [looking for painting], they arrived in Bakwanga, here it is, on this picture [Painting 76: The Building of the Town of Mbuji-Mayi]12. So they got to Bakwanga.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: You see some women carrying loads on their heads and others, also the men there. You see the elephant I painted, which is to say that the place was in the bush. It was bush; there was nothing. Alright. Those people got there and settled. They began cutting trees and building a town. Today this town is called Mbuji-Mayi.

15.
Alright, the chief whom they installed was Kalonji Albert, formerly Albert. Alright. Before he became chief, Kalonji Albert had been President [of South Kasai]. Then he called himself king and finally emperor [Painting 77: Kalonji, Emperor of South Kasai]. So I am telling you [reading from painting] "the twentieth century kingdom of the Luba." Because the Luba had had a kingdom long before. This one was their kingdom in the twentieth century. It was Kalonji's; he founded this kingdom of his.

16.
Alright. So the kingdom in the Kasai, of South Kasai, was founded. In its territory there lived Kanioka, Kabinda, and Tetela. Sone among them were for [Kalonji's kingdom], others against. The Kanioka, for instance, did not want to be part of a [united] Congo, rather they had the ambition to set up their own province, that of Mwene Ditu [Painting 78: The Kanioka Revolt]. It was to be called Southern Province and to belong to Katanga.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: That is why they used the flag of Katanga. Alright. The Kasaians, those who were on Kalonji's side, rejected this. Kalonji traveled to Mwene Ditu and to Luputa. So, when he got off the train [this is what he saw] [pointing to the picture]: There was the road and there the KDL station. Those are shops and this is the road to Ngandajika, and that one goes to Mwene Ditu.
F: This place is where?
T: It's in Luputa.
F: Luputa.
T: Luputa. Alright. This goes to Mwene Ditu and this to Ngandajika. What happened is the South Kasai military came and killed many Kanioka. After that massacre, all the Kanioka left and fled. There was nothing they could do about it, Kalonji's kingdom took over, [their country] was under Kalonji's rule. It was [part of] South Kasai.

17.
Alright, I could explain at length to you about the way Kalonji's kingdom took over [but], as I told you, I am taking a short cut by leaving out some pictures. The truth is that among the Luba, the Luba Kasai and the Kanioka, the matter was settled. Now back to Kalonji. There were conflicts among the soldiers. Among the Luba soldiers there were those from Bena Mutwa Mukuna.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Write it down: "Bena Tshibanda and Bena Mutwa Mukuna." You can write it down like that. Among them were Bena Tshibanda and Bena Mutwa Mukuna.
F: ...?...
T: Yes, right. You see, I forgot [chuckles].13 Alright. So it was Bene Mutwa wa Mukuna and Bene Tshibanda. They no longer got along with each other. Agreement among them came to an end. Now, the emperor belonged to the Tshibanda, the general and commander of the army, was a member of the Mutwa wa Mukuna. The Minister of the Interior, Joseph Ngalula, was Mutwa wa Mukuna. Alright. So there was no mutual understanding any more. [The general] saw what happened when Kalonji became the ruler. Kalonji's relatives began to kill Bena Mutwa wa Mukuna. "We are the bosses now," they said, "you have nothing to say anymore." As a result of the killing there was open conflict and General Chinyama staged a coup d'état [Painting 79: The End of the Luba Empire]. He removed Kalonji from power.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: As a result, Kalonji left the same day and took refuge here in Katanga. So he had fled to Katanga. Alright. Things were settled, the general planned to hand South Kasai over to the Congo, as a province of the Congo. What happened is that the powers in Kinshasa appointed Joseph Ngalula governor. [With that], I believe, the affair was settled. And as I explained to you, the history of Katanga had ended. The secessions of Kasai and Katanga were finished.
F: Mm-hmm.

18.
T: Alright. [Meanwhile] Kasavubu was head of state, Adoula prime minister. Then they removed Adoula from his seat. After that, they called on Moïse Tshombe. He had fled to Madrid in Spain. They said: "Come back and take the seat of prime minister here in Zaire [Painting 80: Tshombe Prime Minister]. Indeed, he did not hesitate and left right away and came to the Congo. In the Congo he took the seat of prime minister. I must tell you that this is just one picture. Since you told me that you are about to leave, I took many short cuts. I have [in mind] a great number of pictures that would fit here to show how he was given power and how he was received by Kasavubu.
F: Mm-hmm.

19.
Alright. There we are. After he had risen to power, there was the affair of the contentieux belgo-congolais, unsettled claims between Belgium and the Congo. Alright. This matter of claims was a political issue so complicated the all the politicians themselves did not understand what it really was about. Tshombe went there [to Belgium]. When he arrived -- whether this is true or a lie, that is a matter which regards the big shots -- he was given an attaché-case. I put the inscription "RDC" on it, right? With it he arrived in Kinshasa [Painting 81: Tshombe Returning from the Brussels Talks]. I should back up here, I hope this doesn't bother you but it is important. I think before he took power, [Tshombe] had told the people of Zaire [reading from painting] "Give me three months and I shall give you a new Congo." That was really what his trip to Kinshasa was about as I just told you. [Correcting himself] Sorry, it was Brussels. In Brussels they gave him this attaché case. With that attaché-case he came back and told the people of Zaire, of the Congo, that the matter of claims was settled. This was a political trick, neither we nor [others] -- let's just say, it was something that the Belgians kept a secret in their minds. They kept it a secret from the Congolese, who were not to understand clearly that it was a political maneuver designed to lead nowhere. [They had decided] to stall around the matter of claims. Well, that's politics.

20.
Alright. Not much later there were presidential elections. The picture shows the presidential election of 1964 [Painting 82: The 1964 Presidential Election]. [The race] was between Kasavubu and Tshombe. Alright. This was the situation: Kasavubu had his party, the Abako, founded long before then. Tshombe formed his political party, the Conaco. What happened is that Conaco incorporated all the [other] political parties in Zaire. The Kalonji-faction, MNC-Kalonji, was part of Conaco and so was the PCA, all those political parties I could name and others I don't know about; they were all part of Conaco. Alright. With the help of the Gécamines, the Union Minière, Tshombe carried the election. He won the election.

21.
Now, since he won the election because he had financial backing there inevitably was conflict in its aftermath. War broke out in Kwilu, it was the war of the Mulelist uprising [Painting 83: The Mulelist Uprising]. The followers of Mulele rose and there was a killing war. Let us take the Congo by force instead of this election. [Tshombe] just wants to keep his seat; he used to be a secessionist. They opposed [all] this.

22.
Alright. Nguebe, Soumialot, and those others whom I think you may know, they also staged a revolt in Kisangani [Painting 84: The Rebellion in Stanleyville]. But instead of rising up for a good cause, they just grabbed people, killed them, cut their heads off. There you see some who were doused with gasoline and set on fire, that's how it was. [Aside] Yes, that's the picture.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: That's how it was. Alright. It's like [looking at the painting] -- yes, cutting off heads and doing as they liked. There was desolation, they did not get enough of this killing. [But] kill as they might, lots of people were passed over.14

23.
Now, in this whole history that I just told you about and that you have before you in my paintings, there was, I think, this one person who did not like it. This man saw how bad it was, that there was no one able to give some direction to politics in Zaire. It was a catastrophe, people died for nothing. It was beyond comprehension. This [person] is Mobutu Sese Seko, as he calls [himself now]; he used to be Mobutu Joseph Desiré [Painting 85: November 24: Mobutu and Party Symbols].
F: Mm-hmm.
T: On November 24, he was fed up with all this and, being a military man, a general, he seized power. I don't know whether it was a coup d'état or what. Or, let's say, it was a take-over by the military high command which then took power in Zaire. On November 24, it seized power and condemned everything that had been happening [up to then]. So it seized [power] and usually the date is given as November 24. Actually it was at midnight on the 23rd -- that's the way we count it here, saying "the 23rd" or "midnight 23rd." But for French speakers "the 23rd at midnight" becomes the 24th.

24.
On the morning of the 24th, Mobutu called the people to the stadium [Painting 86: Mobutu Rolling Up his Sleeves], which, at that time, was called "Tata Raphael." He had changed the [former name of the] stadium and it was now Tata Raphael and he called together a large crowd. He explained to them his concerns. But you can get the documentation and read that speech.

25.
Alright. So he said what he had to say. I was a very young then and I heard what he had to say because at that time I began to understand French well. He declared: "In Zaire, from this day on, not a single political party will be allowed. You have divided [the country] into seven provinces and there are forty four --- forty four! -- political parties. From this day on, all this is over. Watch me how I am going to act. For five years I am going to see whether this is good or bad." And then he mentioned this, in his own voice15 [turns to look for the next painting]: "See how we got our brother killed. It seems a pointless death, right? He was a person of intelligence. But we all failed to appreciate the insights he had. Now it turns out that he was right. Therefore, today I declare Lumumba a national hero" [Painting 87: The MPR Makes Lumumba a National Hero]. And he went on to talk about how they killed him -- as it appears in those paintings I explained to you -- in that house there in Lubumbashi, down there near the airport of Luano.

26.
Alright. So he was in power. Since, following the course of history, we break it up into chapters, [we may say] there was another chapter he did not like, namely that Mr. Moïse Tshombe was living in Spain. He did everything to convince him that he should return to his high office. And [Tshombe] did what was in his power to hire mercenaries whom he sent to Bukavu. It was night and suddenly the people heard an airplane approaching and descending. And as the plane descended they saw to their great surprise paratroopers16 jumping down [Painting 88: The Mercenaries Landing at Bukavu]. As soon as they came down there was fighting and they took the town of Bukavu. It is not clear whether they really took the town. At that time we did not have soldiers -- Kapanga -- or maybe they were just disorganized.17 It was the time when [Tshombe] began to make every effort to invade the country he considered his. Indeed, they killed a lot of people. You see them in background, women, men and children, they were just massacred

27.
But what happened -- according to history as I understand it -- there was strong support from the Americans who entered the fighting. Together with the ANC, the National Congolese Army, as it used to be called, the mercenaries hired by the Belgians who lived in Bukavu were driven out. They left and fled. This is the picture on which I wrote [reading from painting]: "Jean and his friend flee toward Rwanda" [Painting 89: Jean Schramme Flees]. They fled to Rwanda.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Alright. So when they had fled to Rwanda and showed up near the border, Mobutu made a request to the Kayibanda, the one who used to be President of Rwanda: "These people should not cross." Kayibanda refused, saying: "They will be allowed to cross. They are war refugees and I have nothing against them." But that meant trouble between the Congo and Rwanda. Kayibanda issued condemnations -- let's say, he treated the Congo without respect at that time. Mobutu was enraged and even broke off diplomatic relations.

28.
Alright. No much later Tshombe over there heard the news: "The mercenaries you sent took Bukavu. Don't think they ran away." We don't know who it was who worked on him and deceived him on the chance that [Tshombe] would travel. Tshombe wanted to leave Spain immediately, get to Bukavu, and occupy once again his seat as pdresident in Zaire. What happened is he left, but in his plane there was one white person of Spanish extraction who had a gun. He disarmed the pilot and told him: "Let's land here in Algiers." And so it was, they landed in Algeria [Painting 90: Tshombe Is Arrested in Algiers]. Alright. When they had landed in Algiers, [Tshombe] was confined to the plane until they had sent soldiers to take him out. This was done and he was imprisoned. [What happened then],I think, is something that regards the big shots, as I have told you before. We heard bits and pieces. It was said that it was in June, between the 27th and -- or rather on the 30th -- that Tshombe died. Right now, all of us here know that Tshombe is dead.

29.
The way I divide up history, after Tshombe's death comes -- [but let me first remind you of] the politics we have here, that of General Mobutu, the progress it has made and of the fact that he has had a firm grip on his rulership.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: He searching for a "recourse to authenticity." Alright, about recourse to authenticity. It was meant the way he had formulated it earlier and it was not really a mistake when he [also] used to speak of "return to authenticity." Alright. So he did say "return to authenticity" and, on that occasion, Monseigneur Malula misunderstood this. He burst out immediately: "No way, there cannot be a return to authenticity. That would be so difficult as to be impossible. Just look at Kinshasa; we would all die should we go back to the ways of old. It cannot be done." So there was open conflict between the [leaders of] religion and the government. It's true, Mobutu harassed Malula in every imaginable way. [Malula] fled from, or rather [Mobutu] had him removed from, Kinshasa. Malula traveled and said that he could not meet [Mobutu] and he went to the Pope. And the Pope said: "No, I agree, I am on Mobutu's side regarding the things he said about recourse to authenticity [Painting 91: Pope Paul VI Approves Mobutu's Policies]. Everything should be accepted, [for instance] this matter of names." As he said: "From now on I am no longer Mobutu Joseph Desiré, I am Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngwendu wa Zabanga." That is his name [now]. Everyone who lives in Zaire, for instance Tshibangu Tshishiku [Tshisuku], the rector of the University, changed his name. "And you, Malula [Mobutu said], you, too, are to be called only Malula and by that other name that came from your ancestors. There is nothing at all wrong with that."

30.
In fact, I think I can go back now to the MPR, which we mentioned earlier [Painting 92: The Party Monument at Kipushi]. On May 20, Mobutu had the idea to reveal the Torch of the Revolution. This monument I painted because I live in Kipushi and see it [all the time], so that is the one I represented. Because I am doing this history as a resident of Kipushi. If I lived in Lubumbashi I would have done the one that is there. Should you prefer the one in Likasi, I'll do it, or the one in Kolwezi, all of them. Many could be painted but I18 represent the one and only MPR. What it says is [reads from painting]: "Long live May 20, Birth of the Popular Movement of the Revolution, the great Zairean family with its president and founder Mobutu Sese Seko" [adding] Nkuku Ngwendu [sic] wa Zabanga. Alright. There, I think, it refers to an occasion when he said that everyone of Zairean descent, old or young, belongs to the MPR. Even if you don't agree. You may disagree and refuse [membership], but everyone is a member of the MPR. Alright. So there you are, he discarded the flag that you have seen, the one with the star and a bar through the middle, and revealed the green flag, with a torch in the middle of a yellow circle.

31.
It was on October 4, if I am not mistaken, that he travelled to the UN. There he gave a speech and that speech remains truly historical [Painting 93: Mobutu's Speech before the United Nations Assembly]. Even I, when I thought about it, [told myself]: "It is true." So what Mobutu had in mind is true -- or else it is a lie. But that is something I keep to myself. [But] it is true that he started out with ideas that were correct. So he spoke, and we all agreed, not a single thing was disputed. And it was a speech of which this gentleman said -- someone from the UN, I forgot his name -- that, ever since speeches were made at the UN, it was "the one that drew the most applause." [It was] Kissinger, if this is what he is called.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Yes, he was the one who described it that way. Alright. As you can see, overall in the world [people were listening]. The white man in Europe listened. He watched it on television. The same in Asia, the yellow people, because down there in Asia there are the Indians, they, too, listened, on the other side of the Suez Canal. In Africa there were Arabs and blacks among those who listened. In Oceania, they listened. Also in America, in Mexico -- everywhere they listened, everywhere in the two parts of America, South and North.

32.
Alright. I think I go on from this painting. Getting [to the next one] [Painting 94: Zairianization], soon after that, on November 30, 1973, Mobutu conceived and -- how shall we put it? -- carried out the "measures of November 30, 1973", the [pronounces the French term with difficulty] Za, what is it again? Zai...
F: Zairinization [laughs].
T: Yes [chuckles], it's difficult, I have difficulties pronouncing it. Alright, Zairinization, as you said, right? Alright. What he said was that everything must remain in the hands of those who were born in Zaire, right? That means, all kinds of work -- wherever there was a directorship, it should be held by a black person. As far as shops were concerned, a black person should run them. "You, the Greeks," should go home [Mobutu said]. "Don't go in anger. We will not rob you of your possessions; we will begin to reimburse you in yearly installments." Let's say, [the owner] himself could set the terms, but I don't really know. I think, they just left and those people took over the shops. So you see here in Lubumbashi we have [reading from painting] the "Etablissement Tshiani." It's a well-known name because of the advertisement I heard on the radio; that's why I put it there. There is the entrance to a store and what's happening is that the white man goes away and leaves the shop to [the new proprietor].

33.
And the last picture [Painting 95: Happiness, Tranquility, and the Joy of Living in Peace]. I won't tell what its meaning is, the meaning of this picture. You see the rays, right? That come from the torch there which is like the sun? It lights up the whole Zaire. That's in the story.19 It lights up the whole of Zaire. It means that we now live in happiness, tranquility, and joy. I inscribed this picture [reads from painting]: "Happiness, tranquility, and the joy to live in peace." We have justice, peace, work. That's something like our motto.
F: Mm-hmm.
T: Truthfully I now come to a close with my History. Regarding the matter which we have met to discuss today, I have followed the entire course of history [rummages]. I did this without guile and with a lot of enjoyment. The aim I had was to tell the history of our country. There is nothing bad about that, nor is what I am doing politics. When I work I have this child in mind who is going to grow up and will confront that history. Even our president knows how Zaire used to be, that it later became Congo and then Zaire again. On October 27, he gave the name Zaire back to it and we all were happy about it. I think, I finished. There is nothing else to say. I wish you a good trip, and that I may remain well.
F: Yes.
T: Yes.
F: Thank you.
T: Yes.
F: We thank you.

1
This is what I hear in the recording; perhaps it is ECS muhimu, from hima, important, urgent.
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A hypercorrection; the Swahili term kazi, for instance, is often pronounced kaji by speakers of Tshiluba. See also shiku for siku in the same phrase.
[back to main text]3Ilitukuwa is a strange form in that the infix tu apparently is not the pronominal object marker first person plural but perhaps an interjected anticipation of the tu (=only) that follows the verb phrase.
[back to main text]4Tambuka, see Lenselaer (1983: 515), "to cross".
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In phrases that contain a proper name very often the name is preceded by a question such as nani. This could be translated as "who was it again," indicating hesitation. However, this is so frequent that another interpretation may have to be considered: nani functions like an obligatory (grammatical) marker announcing a proper name.
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1
My count is still off by one.
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In the Swahili text, T. first uses batu, then says that this translates into French as peuple. The semantic precision intended is toward a political term (opposition leaders/people) in contrast to batu as "black people" (as opposed to wazungu, whites).
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The Swahili text has another doublet here: noire/ couleur mweusi -- but notice that the Swahili gloss mweusi is paired with French couleur.
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The reference is to Painting 87.
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I had not caught the French term lame used by T. in the Swahili text.
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Lit. "a person should stay with (loc. pa, there where) a person."
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The Swahili text has here and in many other places the phrase ni kweli, or kweli. I have tried translations as "truly," "in fact," what really happened was," etc. The phrase works like a marker on the boundary of grammar and rhetoric rather than as a distinct semantic item. It means something like: "As I continue with this account of things that really happened..." It is grammatical in analogy to phrases like asema, ni kusema. It is rhetorical as a repeated expression of a narrative claim. Similar consideration apply to the recurrent phrase nazani(a).
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I seem to be looking for the painting that goes with the episode of Ileo. T. stops me by saying that this part is only "speaking."
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The Swahili text has balipima kuua avion, "they tried to destroy the plane." Either this is elliptic or avion should have been moto, the fire. The picture supports my translation.
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T. put two events together (for the purpose of dating them?) but the pronominal references are somewhat ambiguous. I assume that the object in the following sentence is Sendwe.
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The Swahili text has a phrase I transcribe as shi inye = si inye, an interjected question.
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The same picture was included previously in the series as #54.
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To be sure that I get these ethnic names right T. tells me to write them down. I point to the recorder and he excuses himself.
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The best I can do with a very difficult sentence. But the original is ambiguous and could also be interpreted as: Lots of people went through this [got killed].
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Or "in his own language," i.e. switching from French to Lingala.
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In the Swahili text T. has difficulties with the French term. He repeats parachistes but obviously is not sure that this is correct.
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Another ambiguous and enigmatic sentence with two problems: Who is "we?" With whom does T. identify here, the Congo or Katanga? The latter seems to be suggested by the otherwise incomprehensible reference to Kapanga, Tshombe's home base of power.
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In the Swahili text the verb, using the French term réprésenter, has the first person plural prefix ("we").
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Or: "That is part of history" -- the Swahili text permits both.
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